Mineral wool spinning wheel



1957 E. c. BALDASARRE ETAL 2,808,616

MINERAL WOOL SPINNING WHEEL Filed June 22, 1956 Even/57's 5277657 6'.Ba/c/asarre,

United States Patent MINERAL WOOL SPINNING WHEEL Ernest C. BaldasarreandArthur P. Gennari, West Stockbridge, Mass.

Application June 22, 1956, Serial N 0. 593,206

3 Claims. (Cl. 182.6)

Our invention relates to improvements in mineral wool spinning wheelsand has for its object the provision of a spinning wheel having aplurality of advantages including low initial cost, low maintenancecost, long life, ease of replacement, reduction of idle machine time,increased production, more uniform quality of the spun product, and

other advantages that will become evident as the explanation of theinvention progresses.

Fig. l is the front elevation of a simple form of the kind of mineralwool spinning machine contemplated by the present invention and havingspinning wheels in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the improved spinning Wheel in sectiontaken along the line 2-2 of Fig. l; and Fig. 3

'is a perspective view of the Wheel partially taken apart fibers. Thisstream is seen as being poured on the rotating wheel 13 which partiallyspreads this stream and throws it at a high velocity as stream 14 to therotating wheel 15 which in its turn catches and redirects it as spray 14at a still higher velocity. While Fig. 1 shows only two spinning wheelsfor illustration, more of them in cascade may be provided if desired.

it will be observed that the velocity of stream 14 and the tangentialvelocity of wheel 15 are in differentdirections, as a result of whichthe stream and the wheel strike each other with a relative velocity thatis the vectorial resultant of their respective velocities and hencegreater than either one. This is advantageous, because a liquid orviscous drop falling slowly tends to assume a spherical shape, and withincreasing speed more and more oval, in the limit becoming thread like,especially as the friction between the stream and the surface it hitstends to stretch, streak and shred it. Liquid or viscous fine threadscool off and solidify quickly.

In conventional practice, the wheels to serve as 15 for instance areexpensively madecast and machined-from the most durable grades of steel.They are hollow and watercooled with circulating water inside, and yet,due to the physical and chemical action of the hot molten slag on thesteel under high impact and friction, and also due to the shot effect ofunmolten particles in the slag impinging on the wheel surface at a highvelocity, these wheels hecome eroded at a surprisingly high rate. Theerosion is not infrequently very uneven and spotty, and the productnon-uniform, and the wheel subject to mechanical failure. Replacement ofsuch wheels with new wheels being expensive, the eroded wheels aregenerally turned down on the lathe to even them, and then they are builtup by welding. However, steel suitable for welding lacks the strengthand durability of the original steel and additionally introduces intothe wheel non-homogeneity and stresses, and such wheels are apt to crackin service.

These and other related troubles of theconventional spinning wheels aregreatly mitigated by the present invention through the wheel structureshown in Figs. 2 and 3. Referring to these two figures jointly, thewheel is seen as made up of two end platesa discoidal front plate 19 andan annular rear plate 16these two including between themselves a stackof annular discs 17 and 18 alternating with each other to produce thedesired axial wheel dimension, that is, the width of the spinningsurface of the wheel. The two end plates are bolted together tightly, toproduce a watertight wheel, by means of a set of bolts 20 which arepreferably of the Allenhead type. Although only one bolt 20 is visiblein Fig. 2, a dozen may be seen in Fig. 3.

The annular elements 18 are high strength steel rings preferably of theorder of a quarter of an inch in thickness, through they may be more orless thick; and the annular elements 17 are preferably of copper and maybe of the order of %;2 inch in thickness, or more or less. The outersurfaces of the steel rings provide the spinning surface, while thecopper elements 17 serve several purposes. By virture of their relativesoftness, they serve as gaskets to make the joints between the steelrings watertight. They also permit the steel rings to creep slightly asit becomes necessary to relieve undue stresses and strains arising inthe wheel stack. Furthermore, the copper having many times the heatconductivity of steel, these rings help keep the steel rings cooler andtherefore harder and stronger. The cooling action of these copper ringson the steel rings is further enhanced by making the copper rings of asmaller central hole than the steel rings so that the copper ringsproject as cooling fins beyond the steel rings into the water chamberwithin the wheel as may be seen in Fig. 2.

While the copper and the steel rings are shown on these figures as flushon the outside surf-aces, they may be also staggered or stepped ifdesired.

All of the rings and plates are shown with bolt holes for bolts 20, andin the case of parts 16, 17 and 18 these holes :are seen (more clearlyin Fig. 2) as having raised rims or flanges for their quick and accuratealignment in assembling. The face plate 19 is shown without this raisedportion, its place being taken by a filler piece 19'. It will be obviousto those familiar with machine shop practice that these parts, 16-19inclusive, may be indexed in various other ways also for quick andaccurate alignment in assembling.

The wheel (15) is seen as having a shaft'member 22 (to be supported inan appropriate conventional bearing not shown) with flange portion 22 towhich the rear plate 16 of the wheel is made fast by means of screws 21.

Part 23 seen in Fig. 2 is a conventional stationary pipe to carrycooling water to the chamber within the wheel, this water returningthrough the space 24 surrounding the pipe. No claim of novelty is madeas to the means used for water circulation.

In the light of the foregoing explanations, it will be seen that thespinning wheel of the present invention is easily assembled out ofsimple flat rings and plates that may be kept in stock; that they areeconomical to produce and replace; that they are well adapted for makingfrom the most desirable varieties of steel; that by virtue of theirsuperior cooling, these rings will maintain their hardness longer andthus last longer and produce more uniform product; and that they arepractically crackproof.

While the detailed construction described above is the construction weprefer at this time, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art thatvarious modifications can 3 be made therein without departure from thespirit of the invention.

Having described the prinicples, organization, preferred structure andmode of operation of our invention, we claim asour invention and desireto secure by Letters Patent of the United States the following, =to'wit:

17 In a mineral wool spinning machine, a spinning wheel having twocircular end plates and a stack of fiat steel rings alternating withcopper rings, said stack-being assembled axially with said endplates'and bolted watertight between said plates, said plates and saidrings forming a water chamber for cooling water, and said copper ringshaving smaller central holes than the holes of said steel rings so as toproject into said water chamber as cooling fins beyond said steel rings.

2. In a mineral wool spinning machine, a spinning wheel having twocircular-end plates and a stack of flat plate rings axially aligned withand tightly held between said end plates to form a watertight hollowwheel, said stack of flat rings consisting of thicker rings alternatingwith thinner rings, said thicker rings being of a harder metal andproviding external spinning surface to said wheel, and said thinnerrings being of a softer metal and providing watertight joints amongsaidrings and plates, good heat conduction and strain relief among variousparts of said wheel.

4 3. In a mineral wool spinning machine, the spinning wheel comprising aplurality of rings tightly stacked together between two end elements toform a hollow cylinder adapted to be cooled from within by means of acooling fluid introduced into said hollow space, said cylinder beingfurther adapted to Withstand highly nonuniform and variable temperaturedistributions with fluidtight joints by virtue of said rings comprisingaxially thicker rings alternating with thinner rings, said thicker ringsbeing harder and providing external spinning surfaces to said wheel, andsaid thinner rings being softer and providing in contact with saidharder rings fluidtight joints under said highly non-uniform andvariable temperature distributions, at least one of said two endelements being adapted to rotatably support said wheel and at least oneof said end elements providing a passageway for the flow of said coolingfluid through said hollow cylinder.

Powell Nov. 14, 1950 Richardson Nov. 29, 1955

